Bronze Contracting's low bid chosen to demolish Ogdensburg cheese plant

Nov. 14—OGDENSBURG — Bronze Contracting has been awarded the bid by the city of Ogdensburg to demolish the former cheese plant at 30 Main St.

Bids were opened Nov. 2 with Bronze Contracting, Remsen, submitting the low bid of $1,220,000.

On Monday night, City Council passed a resolution authorizing interim City Manager Andrea L. Smith to enter a contract with Bronze Contracting for a sum not to exceed $1.2 million to perform demolition with asbestos containing materials in place as well as the hauling of debris from the project at the former cheese plant.

Ritter & Paratore Contracting, Utica, submitted a bid of $1,321,414, while Dan's Hauling & Demo, Wynantskill, provided a bid of $1,383,000. The highest bid of the four submitted was provided by L.M. Sessler Excavating, Waterloo, at $1,915,000.

Councilors Daniel E. Skamperle and Michael B. Powers voted against hiring Bronze Contracting. Skamperle wanted council to look into using Dan's Hauling & Demo, which uses M&M Excavating from Ogdensburg in its work.

City Council decided to move forward due to the increased costs of not accepting the low bidder, unknown expenses that could occur with the project and the potential of slowing down the demolition.

The city has a history with Bronze Contracting, which was the contractor that tore down the former 42,240-square-foot J.J. Newberry department store, more recently known as Desperado's bar, 212 Ford St., at the end of 2021, finishing the project in early 2022.

Paradigm Environmental, LLC was also hired by City Council to provide subsequent third-party abatement monitoring for a sum not to exceed $155,350.

"This project requires air monitoring and additional environmental consulting services during the abatement and demolition phase of the project that Paradigm Environmental LLC has proven their ability and expertise to provide, and these services are an allowable project cost under the RESTORE 7 project," stated the resolution.

The proposed demolition is able to be done at this time due to the city receiving a $1.8 million grant from the state's Restore New York Initiative for the demolition and remediation of the property that has eight unique and interconnected parcels that make up a city block that is 3.24 acres in size. The Restore New York Initiative supports municipal revitalization efforts to remove blighted properties and reinvigorate downtowns.

In June, City Council moved forward with the financing of the demolition, authorizing a bond anticipation note (BAN) in an amount not to exceed $2,345,100 to cover the upfront costs associated with the demolition and remediation.

The city took ownership in 2009 of the cheese plant through tax foreclosure. Tubroburg, LLC, was the last owner of the property.

In other City Council action Monday night:

— A resolution was approved commemorating the 275th anniversary of Father Picquet selecting land for a mission and fort in what eventually became Ogdensburg.

"Abbe Francois Picquet, a French Sulpician priest, searched for a place to found a mission and a fort; and on November 21, 1748 Father Picquet selected a peninsula at the confluence of the Oswegatchie and St. Lawrence Rivers; and the land became Fort de la Presentation named after the feast of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin in the Temple," stated the resolution.

On June 1, 1749, Father Picquet celebrated a solemn Mass at the present site of Notre Dame Church to open the mission and fort, and the mission and fort became the first European settlement in Northern New York.

"This was the birth of what would become the City of Ogdensburg," stated the resolution.

— City Council approved a three-year residuals management service agreement with Waste Stream Inc. to provide a comprehensive service for the removal and proper disposal of sludge materials from the city's Wastewater Treatment Plant, which generates approximately 825 wet tons of sludge residuals per year.

— Smith was authorized by City Council to sign a modified Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition agreement with the Development Authority of the North Country, which the city originally entered into on April 11, 2017 for an amount not to exceed $100,000 "to provide a reliable and effective monitoring, control, trending and alarming system for the Water Pollution Control Facility (WPCF) in conjunction with the Wastewater System Improvement project," according to the resolution.

With the addition of the Waste Receiving Station, the contract would be increased by $12,000 and "the City would like to integrate the boiler system to the SCADA system at the wastewater treatment plant at a cost of $3,800 bringing the total contract price to $115,800," stated the resolution.

— City Council passed a resolution encouraging Congresswoman Elise Stefanik to vote no on the amendment to cut HUD's Community Development Block Grant formula grants program funding by $1.65 billion.

"The CDBG program is a key ongoing source of federal aid provided to states, cities, villages, towns and counties including the City of Ogdensburg," stated the resolution. "The Ogdensburg City Council encourages Congresswoman Elise Stefanik to vote no on the proposed amendment offered by Representative Grothman to cut HUD's Community Development Block Grant Funding."

— Another resolution was approved by City Council encouraging Gov. Kathleen C. Hochul to sign Senate Bill S.1045 and Assembly Bill A.1567 that would modify the way PILOT payments are treated.

"Legislation modifying the way PILOT payments are treated has been introduced and passed both in the New York State Senate and Assembly, and the purpose of the bill is to amend the General Municipal Law and Education Law to provide that the tax base growth factor (or quantity change factor) includes the value of new assessment exempted under a Payment In Lieu of Taxes agreement being added to a community," stated the resolution, adding, "The legislation will amend Section 3-c of the General Municipal Law and Section 2023-a of the Education Law to include the change in assessed value for each property on the exempt side of the tax rolls under PILOT agreements when the Commissioner of Taxation and Finance calculates the quantity change factor for each local government."

Copies of the resolution would be sent to Hochul and local state representatives.